Clubs turn to doctors for more control

FOR the first time, AFL clubs will soon start hiring their own full-time doctors, according to AFL Medical Officers Association chief Hugh Seward.

Seward believes clubs will appoint their own doctors ''sooner rather than later'', with the importance of the role being reaffirmed following the AFL's and Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority's investigation into Essendon.

''One problem we've had is that many of the club doctors haven't been able to go full-time, or haven't been invited to become full-time employees of clubs. I think that will change,'' he said. ''I think that will happen at some clubs, and I think it will happen sooner rather than later and a lot sooner than some people might have thought.

''It will be an important career path for some sports physicians … and another way for clubs to ensure they have all the right checks and balances in place.''

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AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou has made it clear he wants club doctors to have full authority in the care and treatment of players, and said in a newspaper interview on Sunday that he wants the use of injections to be limited.

He also indicated that people other than club doctors - namely, sports science staff - would not be permitted to administer injections, including intravenously, under an intended crackdown.

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The AFL banned clubs from using IV drips anywhere other than in hospitals after the Brisbane Lions were found to be using them to rehydrate its players during half-time of games in 2001.

Fairfax Media reported last week that Essendon's sports science team was understood to have used one, and possibly two, external doctors in late 2011 and mid-2012 as part of the supplement program being investigated.

Seward stressed the ''vital role'' sports science professionals played at a club, but said several club doctors had expressed concern over the ''drift'' in their role in the past year.

''It was an openly discussed issue last year and there was some concern about the influence of sports science unbalancing the approach to player management,'' he said.

''Medical training requires the consideration of the patient as first priority, and club doctors are used to balancing the needs of the player and player welfare with the needs and expectation of the club in a healthy way. That's pretty obvious, but we do think there seems to have been a drift.

''The Essendon doctors are some of the most highly regarded in our industry. If it can happen there, it suggests if you don't have good processes in place it can happen anywhere.''

One AFL club doctor said he believed club doctors were by and large the clear authorities at their clubs, with the allegation that Essendon had used external doctors extremely uncommon.

''We hear things and the only time we've ever had queries was with Essendon,'' he said. ''If there was something going on with more than the odd player here or there, we'd know about it.

''Hopefully out of this there will be a stronger concentration on making sure the doctors are the only people having anything to do with what the players are given or how they are treated.''